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Author Van Aert, S.; De Backer, A.; Martinez, G.T.; den Dekker, A.J.; Van Dyck, D.; Bals, S.; Van Tendeloo, G.
Title Advanced electron crystallography through model-based imaging Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2016 Publication IUCrJ Abbreviated Journal Iucrj
Volume 3 Issue 3 Pages 71-83
Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Vision lab; Engineering Management (ENM)
Abstract The increasing need for precise determination of the atomic arrangement of non-periodic structures in materials design and the control of nanostructures explains the growing interest in quantitative transmission electron microscopy. The aim is to extract precise and accurate numbers for unknown structure parameters including atomic positions, chemical concentrations and atomic numbers. For this purpose, statistical parameter estimation theory has been shown to provide reliable results. In this theory, observations are considered purely as data planes, from which structure parameters have to be determined using a parametric model describing the images. As such, the positions of atom columns can be measured with a precision of the order of a few picometres, even though the resolution of the electron microscope is still one or two orders of magnitude larger. Moreover, small differences in average atomic number, which cannot be distinguished visually, can be quantified using high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy images. In addition, this theory allows one to measure compositional changes at interfaces, to count atoms with single-atom sensitivity, and to reconstruct atomic structures in three dimensions. This feature article brings the reader up to date, summarizing the underlying theory and highlighting some of the recent applications of quantitative model-based transmisson electron microscopy.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000368590900010 Publication Date 2015-11-13
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2052-2525; ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 5.793 Times cited 30 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes The authors gratefully acknowledge the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium) for funding and for a PhD grant to ADB. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union 7th Framework Program (FP7/20072013) under grant agreement No. 312483 (ESTEEM2). SB and GVT acknowledge the European Research Council under the 7th Framework Program (FP7), ERC grant No. 335078 – COLOURATOMS and ERC grant No. 246791 – COUNTATOMS.; esteem2jra2; ECASSara; (ROMEO:green; preprint:; postprint:can ; pdfversion:can); Approved Most recent IF: 5.793
Call Number c:irua:129589 c:irua:129589 Serial 3965
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Author Mourdikoudis, S.; Altantzis, T.; Liz-Marzan, L.M.; Bals, S.; Pastoriza-Santos, I.; Perez-Juste, J.
Title Hydrophilic Pt nanoflowers: synthesis, crystallographic analysis and catalytic performance Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2016 Publication CrystEngComm Abbreviated Journal Crystengcomm
Volume 18 Issue 18 Pages 3422-3427
Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract Water-soluble Pt nanoflowers (NFs) were prepared by a diethylene glycol-mediated reduction of Pt acetylacetonate

(Pt(acac)2) in the presence of polyethyleneimine. Advanced electron microscopy analysis showed that NFs consist of

multiple branches with truncated cubic morphology and different crystallographic orientations. We demonstrate that the

nature of the solvent strongly influences the resulting morphology. The catalytic performance of Pt NFs in 4–nitrophenol

reduction was found to be superior to that of other nanoparticle-based catalysts. Additionally, Pt NFs display good

catalytic reusability with no loss of activity after five consecutive cycles.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000375697800012 Publication Date 2016-04-12
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1466-8033 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 3.474 Times cited 30 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes The authors would like to thank J. Millos for the XRD experiments and R. Lomba for ICP-OES elemental analysis measurements at the CACTI institute in Vigo. S. Rodal-Cedeira is acknowledged for the FTIR measurement. This research project was implemented within the framework of the Action «Supporting Postdoctoral Researchers» of the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” (Action’s Beneficiary: General Secretariat for Research and Technology of Greece) and is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Greek State [project code PE4(1546)]. This work has been also supported by the Spanish MINECO (grant MAT2013-45168-R) and by the Xunta de Galicia/FEDER (Grant No. GPC2013-006; INBIOMED/FEDER “Unha maneira de facer Europa”). S.B. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council under the Seventh Framework Program (FP7), ERC Grant No. 335078 COLOURATOMS.; ECAS_Sara; (ROMEO:yellow; preprint:; postprint:restricted ; pdfversion:cannot); Approved Most recent IF: 3.474
Call Number c:irua:133670 Serial 4067
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Author Paolella, A.; Turner, S.; Bertoni, G.; Hovington, P.; Flacau, R.; Boyer, C.; Feng, Z.; Colombo, M.; Marras, S.; Prato, M.; Manna, L.; Guerfi, A.; Demopoulos, G.P.; Armand, M.; Zaghib, K.;
Title Accelerated removal of Fe-antisite defects while nanosizing hydrothermal LiFePO4 with Ca2+ Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2016 Publication Nano letters Abbreviated Journal Nano Lett
Volume 16 Issue 16 Pages 2692-2697
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract Based on neutron powder diffraction (NPD) and high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM), we show that calcium ions help eliminate the Fe-antisite defects by controlling the nucleation and evolution of the LiFePO4 particles during their hydrothermal synthesis. This Ca-regulated formation of LiFePO4 particles has an overwhelming impact on the removal of their iron antisite defects during the subsequent carbon coating step since (i) almost all the Fe-antisite defects aggregate at the surface of the LiFePO4 crystal when the crystals are small enough and (ii) the concomitant increase of the surface area, which further exposes the Fe-antisite defects. Our results not only justify a low-cost, efficient and reliable hydrothermal synthesis method for LiFePO4 but also provide a promising alternative viewpoint on the mechanism controlling the nanosizing of LiFePO4, which leads to improved electrochemical performances.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Washington Editor
Language Wos 000374274600084 Publication Date 2016-03-11
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1530-6984 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 12.712 Times cited 30 Open Access
Notes Approved Most recent IF: 12.712
Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:133600 Serial 4134
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Author Béché, A.; Juchtmans, R.; Verbeeck, J.
Title Efficient creation of electron vortex beams for high resolution STEM imaging Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2017 Publication Ultramicroscopy Abbreviated Journal Ultramicroscopy
Volume 178 Issue 178 Pages 12-19
Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract The recent discovery of electron vortex beams carrying quantised angular momentum in the TEM has led to an active field of research, exploring a variety of potential applications including the possibility of mapping magnetic states at the atomic scale. A prerequisite for this is the availability of atomic sized electron vortex beams at high beam current and mode purity. In this paper we present recent progress showing that by making use of the Aharonov-Bohm effect near the tip of a long single domain ferromagnetic Nickel needle, a very efficient aperture for the production of electron vortex beams can be realised. The aperture transmits more than 99% of all electrons and provides a vortex mode purity of up to 92%. Placing this aperture in the condenser plane of a state of the art Cs corrected microscope allows us to demonstrate atomic resolution HAADF STEM images with spatial resolution better than 1 Angstrom, in agreement with theoretical expectations and only slightly inferior to the performance of a non-vortex probe on the same instrument.
Address EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Wos 000403862900003 Publication Date 2016-05-10
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0304-3991 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 2.843 Times cited 30 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes A.B. and J.V. acknowledge funding from the European Research Council under the 7th Framework Program (FP7), ERC Starting Grant No. 278510 VORTEX. J.V. acknowledges funding from FWO project G.0044.13N ('Charge ordering').; ECASJO_; Approved Most recent IF: 2.843
Call Number c:irua:134085 c:irua:134085UA @ admin @ c:irua:134085 Serial 4094
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Author Blommaerts, N.; Asapu, R.; Claes, N.; Bals, S.; Lenaerts, S.; Verbruggen, S.W.
Title Gas phase photocatalytic spiral reactor for fast and efficient pollutant degradation Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2017 Publication Chemical engineering journal Abbreviated Journal Chem Eng J
Volume 316 Issue 316 Pages 850-856
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
Abstract Photocatalytic reactors for the degradation of gaseous organic pollutants often suffer from major limitations such as small reaction area, sub-optimal irradiation conditions and thus limited reaction rate. In this work, an alternative solution is presented that involves a glass tube coated on the inside with (silvermodified) TiO2 and spiraled around a UVA lamp. First, the spiral reactor is coated from the inside with TiO2 using an experimentally verified procedure that is optimized toward UV light transmission. This procedure is kept as simple as possible and involves a single casting step of a 1 wt% suspension of TiO2 in ethanol through the spiral. This results in a coated tube that absorbs nearly all incident UV light under the experimental conditions used. The optimized coated spiral reactor is then benchmarked to a conventional annular photoreactor of the same outer dimensions and total catalyst loading over a broad range of experimental conditions. Although residence time distribution experiments indicate slightly longer dwelling of molecules in the spiral reactor, no significant difference in by-passing of gas between the spiral reactor and the annular reactor can be claimed. Acetaldehyde degradation efficiency of 100% is obtained with the spiral reactor for a residence time as low as 60 s, whereas the annular reactor could not achieve full degradation even at 1000 s residence time. In a final case study, addition of long-term stable silver nanoparticles, protected by an ultra-thin polymer shell applied via the layer-by-layer (LbL) method, to the spiral reactor coating is shown to double the degradation efficiency and provides an interesting strategy to cope with higher pollutant concentrations without changing the overall dimensions.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000398985200089 Publication Date 2017-02-08
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1385-8947 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 6.216 Times cited 30 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes N.B. wishes to thank the University of Antwerp – Belgium for financial support. N.C. and S.B. acknowledge financial support from European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant #335078- COLOURATOM). S.W.V. acknowledges the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) for a postdoctoral fellowship. (ROMEO:green; preprint:; postprint:can ; pdfversion:cannot); ecas_sara Approved Most recent IF: 6.216
Call Number EMAT @ emat @ c:irua:140925UA @ admin @ c:irua:140925 Serial 4481
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Author Benetti, G.; Caddeo, C.; Melis, C.; Ferrini, G.; Giannetti, C.; Winckelmans, N.; Bals, S.; J Van Bael, M.; Cavaliere, E.; Gavioli, L.; Banfi, F.
Title Bottom-Up Mechanical Nanometrology of Granular Ag Nanoparticles Thin Films Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2017 Publication The journal of physical chemistry: C : nanomaterials and interfaces Abbreviated Journal J Phys Chem C
Volume 121 Issue 121 Pages 22434-22441
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract Ultrathin metal nanoparticles coatings, synthesized by gas-phase deposition, are emerging as go-to materials in a variety of fields ranging from pathogens control, sensing to energy storage. Predicting their morphology and mechanical properties beyond a trial-and-error approach is a crucial issue limiting their exploitation in real-life applications. The morphology and mechanical properties of Ag nanoparticles ultrathin films, synthesized by supersonic cluster beam deposition, are here assessed adopting a bottom-up, multi-technique approach. A virtual film model is proposed merging high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, supersonic cluster beam dynamics and molecular dynamics simulations. The model is validated against mechanical nanometrology measurements and is readily extendable to metals other than Ag. The virtual film is shown to be a flexible and reliable predictive tool to access morphology-dependent properties such as mesoscale gas-dynamics and elasticity of ultrathin films synthesized by gas-phase deposition.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000413131700072 Publication Date 2017-09-11
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1932-7447 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 4.536 Times cited 30 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes ; All authors thank Prof. Dr. Luciano Colombo for enlightening discussions. C.C. and F.B. acknowledge financial support from the MIUR Futuro in ricerca 2013 Grant in the frame of the ULTRANANO Project (Project No. RBFR13NEA4). F.B., G.F., and C.G. acknowledge support from Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore through D.2.2 and D.3.1 grants. F.B. acknowledges financial support from Fondazione E.U.L.O. The authors acknowledge financial support from the European Union through the seventh Framework Program (FP7) under a contract for an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (Reference No. 312483 ESTEEM2). ; Approved Most recent IF: 4.536
Call Number EMAT @ emat @c:irua:145828UA @ admin @ c:irua:145828 Serial 4706
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Author Barreca, D.; Carraro, G.; Gasparotto, A.; Maccato, C.; Altantzis, T.; Sada, C.; Kaunisto, K.; Ruoko, T.-P.; Bals, S.
Title Vapor Phase Fabrication of Nanoheterostructures Based on ZnO for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2017 Publication Advanced Materials Interfaces Abbreviated Journal Adv Mater Interfaces
Volume 4 Issue 4 Pages 1700161
Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract Nanoheterostructures based on metal oxide semiconductors have emerged

as promising materials for the conversion of sunlight into chemical energy.

In the present study, ZnO-based nanocomposites have been developed by

a hybrid vapor phase route, consisting in the chemical vapor deposition

of ZnO systems on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates, followed by the

functionalization with Fe2O3 or WO3 via radio frequency-sputtering. The

target systems are subjected to thermal treatment in air both prior and after

sputtering, and their properties, including structure, chemical composition,

morphology, and optical absorption, are investigated by a variety of characterization

methods. The obtained results evidence the formation of highly

porous ZnO nanocrystal arrays, conformally covered by an ultrathin Fe2O3

or WO3 overlayer. Photocurrent density measurements for solar-triggered

water splitting reveal in both cases a performance improvement with respect

to bare zinc oxide, that is mainly traced back to an enhanced separation of

photogenerated charge carriers thanks to the intimate contact between the

two oxides. This achievement can be regarded as a valuable result in view of

future optimization of similar nanoheterostructured photoanodes.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000411525700007 Publication Date 2017-05-15
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2196-7350 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 4.279 Times cited 30 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes The authors kindly acknowledge the financial support under Padova University ex-60% 2013–2016, P-DiSC #SENSATIONAL BIRD2016- UNIPD projects and the post-doc fellowship ACTION. S.B. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council (Starting Grant No. COLOURATOM 335078) and T.A. acknowledges funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium) through a postdoctoral grant. Many thanks are also due to Dr. Rosa Calabrese (Department of Chemistry, Padova University, Italy) for experimental assistance. (ROMEO:yellow; preprint:; postprint:restricted ; pdfversion:cannot); saraecas; ECAS_Sara; Approved Most recent IF: 4.279
Call Number EMAT @ emat @c:irua:146104UA @ admin @ c:irua:146104 Serial 4731
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Author Li, L.L.; Peeters, F.M.
Title Quantum transport in defective phosphorene nanoribbons : effects of atomic vacancies Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2018 Publication Physical review B Abbreviated Journal Phys Rev B
Volume 97 Issue 7 Pages 075414
Keywords A1 Journal article; Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Abstract Defects are almost inevitably present in realistic materials and defective materials are expected to exhibit very different properties than their nondefective (perfect) counterparts. Here, using a combination of the tight-binding approach and the scattering matrix formalism, we investigate the electronic transport properties of defective phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs) containing atomic vacancies. We find that for both armchair PNRs (APNRs) and zigzag PNRs (ZPNRs), single vacancies can create quasilocalized states, which can affect their conductance. With increasing vacancy concentration, three different transport regimes are identified: ballistic, diffusive, and Anderson localized ones. In particular, ZPNRs that are known to be metallic due to the presence of edge states become semiconducting: edge conductance vanishes and transport gap appears due to Anderson localization. Moreover, we find that for a fixed vacancy concentration, both APNRs and ZPNRs of narrower width and/or longer length are more sensitive to vacancy disorder than their wider and/or shorter counterparts, and that for the same ribbon length and width, ZPNRs are more sensitive to vacancy disorder than APNRs.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher American Physical Society Place of Publication New York, N.Y Editor
Language Wos 000424901800006 Publication Date 2018-02-13
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2469-9969; 2469-9950 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 3.836 Times cited 30 Open Access
Notes ; This work was financially supported by the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vl), the FLAG-ERA TRANS 2D TMD, and by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). ; Approved Most recent IF: 3.836
Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:149255UA @ admin @ c:irua:149255 Serial 4946
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Author Bafekry, A.
Title Graphene-like BC₆N single-layer: tunable electronic and magnetic properties via thickness, gating, topological defects, and adatom/molecule Type A1 Journal article
Year (up) 2020 Publication Physica E-Low-Dimensional Systems & Nanostructures Abbreviated Journal Physica E
Volume 118 Issue Pages 113850-15
Keywords A1 Journal article; Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Abstract By using density functional theory-based first-principles calculations, we investigate the structural, electronic, optical, and transport properties of pristine single-layer BC6N. Under different external actions and functionalization. Increasing the thickness of the structure results in a decrease of the band gap. Applying a perpendicular electric field decreases the band gap and a semiconductor-to-topological insulator transition is revealed. Uniaxial and biaxial strains of +8% result in a semiconductor-to-metal transition. Nanoribbons of BC6N having zigzag edge with even (odd) values of widths, become metal (semiconductor), while the armchair edge nanoribbons exhibit robust semiconducting behavior. In addition, we systematically investigate the effect of surface adatom and molecule, substitutional impurity and defect engineering on the electronic properties of single-layer BC6N and found transitions from metal to half-metal, to ferromagnetic metal, to dilute magnetic semiconductor, and even to spin-glass semiconductor. Furthermore we found that, topological defects including vacancies and Stone–Wales type, induce magnetism in single-layer BC6N.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000515321700032 Publication Date 2019-12-04
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1386-9477 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 3.3 Times cited 30 Open Access
Notes ; ; Approved Most recent IF: 3.3; 2020 IF: 2.221
Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:169750 Serial 6530
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